Magazines

Fatal fall in Norway

A man died on Friday after he fell from a work platform in Tysse, Samnanger, to the east of Bergen Norway.

The man, in his 50s, was one of two men working from an aerial lift installing a large temporary tent-like structure on the new Tysse tunnel project. The other man was unaffected and has so far been unable to explain how his colleague managed to fall from the platform.

The dead man who worked for W.Giertsen Hall System of Bergen, fell between four and five metres to the concrete floor below, he was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Haukeland hospital, he succumbed to his injuries 24 hours later.

The company said that the deceased had been with the company for more than 20 years and was highly experienced. It added that this was the first incident that it has experienced in many years of erecting its temporary halls.

This is a photo of an earlier job by the same company

Climbing from scissor to roof seems routine

Vertikal Comment

While no specific details of the incident are available, a quick glance at the company’s web site shows that it typically uses scissor lifts in the installation of the large halls and that its installers climb from the platform onto the structure. It is likely that it was during a transfer such as this that the man fell – although it must be pointed out very clearly that this is merely conjecture on our part, based on typical working practices.

If this was the case, then tragically this time it has gone wrong and a man has lost his life.